Trump Berates Mayor Wheeler For His "Shameful" Response to Occupy ICE

Donald Trump called Mayor Ted Wheeler's decision to keep the city out of enforcing federal immigration law "shameful" this afternoon at the White House. Speaking before a room of Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents, Trump excoriated Wheeler (but did not call him out by name) for keeping Portland police out of the recent ICE protests.

Trump's probably referring to when Wheeler said he discouraged Portland police officers from going to the ICE facility on Southwest Macadam to help ICE agents manage the protest—and suggested that officers only be dispatched to the premises if they're responding to a 911 call. Of course, that call was ultimately made by Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, who ordered officers to sweep the protest camp in late July.

Shortly after this sweep, a lawyer representing the national ICE union sent a warning letter to the city, accusing Wheeler for banning officers from responding to any 911 calls coming from federal immigration officers at the ICE facility. Both Wheeler and Outlaw rebuffed these claims, noting that officers responded to a total of 41 calls for service during the 6-week Occupy ICE campout.

From the sound of it, Trump was briefed on that PPA letter—and not much else.

"The extremists who oppose ICE and CBC [Trump kept calling the CBP the CBC] like to portray themselves as champions of social justice," Trump said. "They are not. But their radical policies are the ultimate injustice, hurting innocent Americans and spilling innocent blood."

Wheeler's Chief of Staff Michael Cox responded to the comments in Trump's own language—a tweet.

I’ll simply say that @tedwheeler has a highly skilled staff who make sure the mayor is well-briefed on things like “facts” and “the law” before he makes sweeping public statements. https://t.co/wNxBCpSXX7— Michael Cox (@MikeBCox) August 20, 2018

Trump reminded the audience that "what you hear in the newspapers and on the news is nothing compared to the way it actually is." He also used the event to congratulate a Latino member of CBP for speaking "perfect English.”